Brian Spurlock-USA TODAY Sports
Andrew Wiggins, the No. 1 high school basketball recruit in the nation, decided to sign a letter of intent with the Kansas Jayhawks. However, the 6-foot-7, 195-pound small forward clearly made a huge mistake by not picking the North Carolina Tar Heels.
Wiggins could have won a National Championship by joining an already established UNC team. Instead, he decided to go with a rebuilding Kansas squad that will probably not make it to the Final Four next season. Even though Kansas is the favorite to win the Big 12 Conference Championship with Wiggins, he still would have been better off winning the ACC and possibly going the distance in the NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament.
The Tar Heels could have used Wiggins at either forward position in their fast-paced system. Not to mention, there is no question he would have excelled under head coach Roy Williams. The success at the collegiate level would have transitioned well for Wiggins to make a solid run as a high draft selection in the NBA Draft whenever he decided it would be time to take his talents to the professional level.
This is not to say that he will not learn a lot under head coach Bill Self at Kansas. For all we know, Wiggins could become a better basketball player learning from Self than he would have from playing for Williams. Not to mention, it is very possible that the Jayhawks will once again be the better team than the Tar Heels.
However, I just cannot imagine a situation in which Wiggins will benefit more from Kansas then he would have from UNC.
Wiggins would have filled in nicely for Reggie Bullock, who decided to make himself eligible for the 2013 NBA Draft. He would have then played alongside sophomore point guard Marcus Paige, junior guard P.J. Hairston and junior forward James Michael McAdoo. These three players alone make UNC national title contenders for the 2013-14 NCAA basketball season. Adding Wiggins would have simply been the cherry on top.
Wiggins will be a dominant player who will be the early favorite to win Freshman of the Year. It really does not matter what system he plays in because he is going to perform at a high level no matter what. He is going to put up double-digit points every night, while his 7-foot wingspan will allow him to be a factor on the boards.
The biggest difference in his freshman year between the two schools is that Wiggins will be expected to lead right off the bat in Kansas, while he could have been a supporting cast member on a National Championship team in North Carolina.
